One candidate marched to the beat of Sikh dhol drummer Jarnail Singh in South Richmond Hill. The other candidate was lauded as “a real mensch” in Kew Gardens.
Mayoral candidate frontrunners Andrew Yang and Eric Adams hit the campaign trail trolling for votes in the world’s borough of Queens on Tuesday, March 16.
Adams’ visit in the parking lot of the Baba Makhan Shah Lobana Sikh Center came with an appearance and endorsement from Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, the first South Asian woman to be elected to State office in New York history.
Adams also came to push his healthcare access equity plan, which would double new vaccination sites — from 100 to 200 — with funds from the federal government’s nationwide $32 billion vaccination effort.
Adams and Rajkumar said this can be done using part of the $6 billion the city will receive from Washington, and then make the sites permanent healthcare centers in underserved communities to close racial gaps in chronic illness rates and access to basic care.
“Our city’s diversity is its strength, and I will work with Assemblymember Rajkumar to support our immigrants and communities of color as their advocate at City Hall, ensuring we recover the right way by protecting their rights, delivering financial resources, and getting them the healthcare resources they need to thrive,” said Adams.
Just minutes after Adams’ appearance, Yang received the endorsement from Assemblymember Daniel Rosenthal (D-Queens) at the corner of Main Street and 75th Avenue in the heart of the modern orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills.
After the photo op, PoliticsNY asked Yang about the current controversial allegations that some yeshivas are not giving proper secular education.
“I’ve looked into it [the issue], but I’m for whatever is working for children and families, and from what I’ve seen, a lot of these schools are delivering great education to kids every day,” said Yang.
Yang also said he is in favor of retaining the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT) to get into the city’s top academic high schools, but also to supplement it with other factors such as grades, teacher recommendations and essays.
“I also think expanding some of these school because a zero-sum game is not necessary given that we have such a large system and if there’s a lot of demand for it we can create two new ones per borough so kids can have other options that are frankly closer to them because now a lot of kids are commuting to them an hour each way,” he said.
This story first appeared on politicsny.com.
